


Honey, You're a Grand Slam

by airplanesmuke



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Muke Clemmings, Special education, baseball!ashton, baseball!muke, college!muke, philosophystudent!calum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2016-09-13
Packaged: 2018-08-12 13:58:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7937344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/airplanesmuke/pseuds/airplanesmuke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael is studying to become a Special Education teacher; Calum loves Aristotle; Ashton can't pass Political Philosophy for the life of him; and Luke is just trying to get to class on time.</p><p>or Lashton are both on their college baseball team, Malum are roommates, and Muke pine after one another.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> hello again :) this is the first part of three (there's not any muke action but there will be in later chapters!!) I started planning this the day before school started so bear with me for updates, but I hope you enjoy :))))

**LUKE**

 

Luke should have known that clicking on that one Buzzfeed article at 10:00 pm wasn’t a good idea. Knowing how vulnerable he is to useless distraction, he should have just closed his phone and gone straight to bed, but he clicked it anyway. One video turned into twenty and when he finally stopped it was 1:45 am. 

Watching “How To Make The Perfect Bloody Mary” seemed totally worth it until he woke up the next morning to the sun coming through his shitty blinds and the soft sounds of the Marimba ringtone coming from his phone that was lodged underneath his pillow. He fumbled with his phone, dropping it a few times before successfully clicking the home button and turning off the alarm. When he saw that it was already 11:52 his eyes widened and he quickly threw the duvet off his body and jumped out of bed. 

Luke was never one for being punctual, everyone knew that. His high school teachers gave him countless detentions for running into their classes five minutes after the bell that even his charming smile couldn’t get him out of. It was a lot more lax in college, except for the fact that if he was late to a class more than once a week, his coach would be notified and Luke was not about to run more sprints than he had to.

So, that was why Luke was changing from his flannel pajama pants to an old pair of basketball shorts and slipping on his beat up converse so quickly. His Intro to Communications class started at noon and it was all the way across campus, so regardless he’d be sprinting all the way there. He opted out of tying his shoes and grabbed his backpack and took a sip from the listerine bottle by his bed before collecting his keys and running out of his dorm.

He swished the mouthwash around in his mouth as he ran down the stairs and out the door before spitting it out into the hydrangeas planted outside the building. Some people gave him weird looks and Luke was about to explain himself, until his phone vibrated and it was 11:55. He took off across the freshman quad without looking back, internally cursing at himself for doing this to himself. For once, he was grateful for the conditioning practices his old high school coach put him through, because there was no way that he could still be running right now without those. Like, he chose baseball because he didn’t have to run that much.

The Communications building was finally in view and if Luke wasn’t breathing so hard, he’d sigh in relief. He was going to make it. He had his eyes so set on the building that he wasn’t paying attention to where he was running, so he wasn’t able to register the boy talking on his phone in his path in time. He crashed into him and landed on all fours, scraping his knees on the gravel that made up the path. His palms stung and he was about to check the other boy and make sure he was ok and apologize profusely when his phone vibrated again and it was 11:59.

And dammit, he did not just sprint all the way across campus to have to do it again this afternoon. He grabbed his bag and yelled “I’m so sorry mate!” before sprinting the rest of the way to his Communications class. 

When he finally made it to the classroom, he bent over holding onto the side of the door frame trying to steady his breath.

“Hemmings are you alright?” His professor asked amusedly. This wasn’t the first time he had been running (literally) late to class, but it was the first time that he had actually made it on time.

Luke held one finger up and took one more deep breath before standing fully up and nodding his head. When he saw that the whole class was looking at him with wide eyes, his face heated up and he bowed his head, sliding into the closest seat. He pulled out his laptop and glasses case and lay them out on the squeaky plastic desk. His professor started her presentation of the day and Luke started typing away on his computer  


**CALUM**

 

“Michael, it specifically says in the rules and regulations that we cannot have any pets in the dorms. No fish, no hermit crabs, and especially not a turtle,” Calum said exasperated through the phone. It was the third time this week that his roommate had been heckling him for a pet, and he wasn’t having it.

“Ok, ok fine. But when we move into the apartments off campus next year…” Michael was cut off when a body ran into Calum, causing him to drop his phone and fall onto his back.

 “Hey man are you alright?” Calum asked the guy next to him, but he didn’t respond. The blonde got up in a rush and grabbed his things; he shouted “Sorry!” before sprinting along the path.

Calum, not even offended at the bluntness from the other guy, chuckled to himself thinking, _Freshmen, gotta love ‘em._ He grabbed his backpack and stood up, swatting at his thighs to get the dust off of his black jeans.

 “Calum? Calum!” The Maori boy quickly grabbed his phone from the ground and held it up to his ear, wincing when Michael’s loud shrill voice came through the speakers.

“Yeah Michael? I’m right here,” Calum said. “Some kid just ran into me on his way to class,”

“Oh! Speaking of class, I gotta go- kids are calling. But I’ll see you at the cafe after? At our usual table?” Michael asked.

“I’ll be there,” Calum promised. “I’m actually going there now, so come right after class,” Michael agreed and hung up right when Calum reached the front of the cafe. He pulled the door open and was immediately overwhelmed with the smell of coffee beans. Ordering a latte and a blueberry muffin, he quickly paid and took a seat at the booth he and Michael practically claimed as “theirs” freshmen year.

 Just as Calum pulled out his laptop and notebook, a smiley waiter came with his coffee and muffin. He thanked her and got to work on his philosophy paper due next week. It wasn’t hard, he just had to compare and contrast Henry David Thoreau’s _Civil Disobedience_ with Karl Marx’s _The Communist Manifesto_. The paper was only supposed to be two pages, but by the time he was finished with it, he was halfway down the fifth page.

 He looked at the time and saw that Michael should just be getting out of class, so he wrapped up his writing and saved it twice (just to be safe) and put away his books. He flagged down one of the waiters standing about and ordered another coffee and a youthberry iced tea for Michael.

 Michael came a few minutes later: blue hair disheveled, stickers covering his Weezer shirt, and his backpack unzipped, but he smiled the biggest smile when he made eye contact with his best friend.

 “Cal! Hey man,” he said excitedly. He threw his backpack to the floor and slid into the booth across from his roommate. “How’s your day been?”

 “Been good I guess, went to class, wrote a paper. You know, college things,” he replied before remembering something. “Oh! I didn’t tell you earlier on the phone, but there’s this one dude in my Political Philosophy class who’s struggling and my professor asked me to tutor them for extra credit!”

 “You’ve already got the highest grade in the class Aristotle,” Michael teased. “Why would _you_ need extra credit?”

 “Because,” Calum said dramatically. “Having extra credit and tutoring experience on my transcript looks really good for jobs and all that. Not all of us are gonna be able to easily find jobs after graduation ya’know,”

“Cal, we’ve still got two and a half more years. I know you’ll find something.” 

“I know, I know. It just worries me. Did you hear back from that internship you applied for?” he asked, breaking off a piece of the (now) cold muffin in front of him.

Michael sighed and gave Calum an annoyed look. “You ask me this everyday. Nothing has changed, they haven’t even asked me for an interview! What am I supposed to do if they don’t want me?”

Calum reached across the table and squeezed Michael’s hand. He knew how stressed his best friend was about getting an internship that summer, specifically an internship at The Hill Center in Durham, North Carolina. It was regarded as one of the best programs for children with learning disabilities, and all Michael had wanted to do since middle school was teach there. He had spent his entire winter break making calls and filling out different applications, but it was already March and he hadn’t heard anything back yet.

“I don’t want to stress you out Mike,” Calum assured, his voice turning more serious. “They’d be an idiot not to want you, you know that,” Michael shrugged and pulled his hand out of Calum’s loose grip.

 “Can we talk about something else?” he asked looking down at the carvings in the wood table.

 Calum cleared his throat and pulled his hand back. “How was class?” he asked, letting out a relieved sigh when Michael picked his head back up with a huge grin.

 “Awesome! It sucks that I only get to see them twice a week but it’s better than nothing I guess. Spencer went to the movies this weekend and saw the Lego movie, which we still have to see by the way, but he loved it. And Annie read a chapter from her book to me and she only stumbled a few times!” Michael gushed. He was studying to be Special Education teacher and loved every second of it. When he had first applied to Vanderbilt, he knew exactly what he wanted to do. His parents were scared that he would change his mind, but flash forward two years and his love for teaching had only intensified.

 Calum loved listening to Michael talk about his teaching; He only spent a few hours a week with kids, but his love for them was always evident in his wide smile and excited eyes. Calum also knew that Michael had the ability to talk about them for hours, and if Calum didn’t chime in and change the subject he would (according to the philosophy student, Michael’s record of continuous talking about the kids in his program was three hours and thirteen minutes).

 The subject changed eventually to Calum’s plans for a big European summer trip to visit all of his favorite philosophers birthplaces and hotspots. He planned on backpacking around Italy and Germany all by himself, but Michael was sure that his older sister Mali would join him (there was no way Mrs. Hood would let Calum do that all by himself). Another waiter came over to collect their empty mugs and plates when Michael’s phone dinged.

 “Welp, that’s our cue to go,” he said, packing up his things and slinging his backpack over his shoulder. Calum followed suit and left a generous tip on the table. The two walked out of the cafe and walked along the path back towards their dorm. Calum didn’t have another class that day so he planned to go to the gym and then take a long nap. Michael, on the other hand, had a weekly meeting with his professor to discuss event planning for the kids that he had to go to.

 “Hey, when do you start your tutoring?” Michael called out to Calum just as the younger boy was walking up the stairs to their dorm entrance.

 “Not sure, professor said the guy would text me sometime today to schedule though,” Calum responded.

 Michael nodded and waved to his best friend one more time before turning around and making his way back to the Special Education building.

 

**MICHAEL**

“So, Michael, I was thinking of doing something different with the kids this Friday,” his professor told him. “The season opener for the baseball team is on Friday and I was thinking that the kids would like to go,” 

Michael suppressed his groan in front of his professor and opted to give her a tight lipped smile in agreement. “That sounds good, have you talked to their parents yet? Johnny would have to bring a meal because of his allergies, and that might make him feel bad so maybe everyone should bring…”

“Michael,” his professor cut off with a smile. It wasn’t a secret that Michael rambled, a lot. Part of it was his genuine worry for the kids’ happiness and another part of it was just who he was. The college student blushed and looked down at his hands in his lap. “I sent out an email to all of their parents to pack a meal before for that reason, and we will leave early so that they can all get home by nine. I just wanted to check with that that you can come and help out if you’re not busy?”

 “Of course!” Michael said excitedly. He would pass up anything to spend time with the kids, even if it meant he had to spend his Friday night at a baseball game. Michael had only been to one baseball game in his life, but  he considering throwing himself off of the grandstand to ease his boredom. 

His professor clapped her hands together and smiled at him. “Great! Thank you Michael, your dedication to these kids really means alot to all of the professors in this department. You’ll be getting a fantastic recommendation letter when you start applying for jobs from me,”

Michael smiled in gratitude, “Thank you Professor Reed, I really appreciate all of the help that you’ve given me so far. I’ll meet you guys at the gate on Friday before the game?”

“I’ll email you with more information, but that sounds good. I’ll see you tomorrow for class,”

 Michael thanked her and walked out of the room, waving goodbye to the secretary at the desk whose name he could never remember. When he got outside, he pulled his phone out from the side pocket of his backpack and plugged in his headphones. He shuffled his music, satisfied when he landed on an old Green Day song.

 He figured Calum would still be in the gym when he got back to his dorm and he was so tired all he wanted to do was nap for a thousand years. He was surprised though, when he pushed open the door to his dorm and saw Calum laughing on his bed with another guy with curly brown hair surrounded by papers and textbooks.

 “Uh..”

 “Michael!” Calum interrupted happily. “How was your meeting? This is Ashton, he’s the guy I’m tutoring in philosophy,”

  _So that’s who he was._ Michael thought before offering out a hand to the older-looking boy. Ashton took Michael’s outstretched hand and shook it firmly.

“Yeah, I’m not the best at philosophy,” Ashton said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. “But it’s good Cal here knows what he’s talking about. I only took the class because I needed to fill a credit.”

 Michael, do you want us to go to the library or something? You look dead mate,” Calum asked.

“Nah, it’s cool. I should get a start on some homework anyway. Sleep is for the weak anyway,” he joked before throwing his backpack onto his bed and grabbing his laptop from his desk.

“Hey, you never said how your meeting went!” Calum said and Ashton followed his gaze with a confused glint in his eye. Calum caught on and quickly explained to him, “Mike’s a Special Education major and every week he has to plan all these cool things to do with the kids to help integrate them into society,”

Ashton looked impressed but Michael just groaned. “Reed is making us all go to the baseball game this week. Something about the home opener but the kids are gonna argue about food and Annie hates sports so she’s gonna be complaining the whole time and baseball is so boring. I don’t even want to go myself!”

Calum and Ashton looked at each other and burst out laughing. Michael looked up at them in confusion, “What? What’s so funny?”

Calum was still giggling so Ashton spoke up in an amused tone. “Nothing, it’s just that I’m on the baseball team,”

Michael groaned again and cursed to himself. “I’m sorry mate, I didn’t know,” But Ashton shook him off.

“No worries, I get it - it can get really boring believe me,” he assured. “One time during a preseason game, my friend Luke got so bored that he used his hands to individually open sunflower seeds and used the empty shells to create pictures,”

Michael snorted at that. “Yeah, that was when he was benched a game for an injury,” Ashton continued. “Got a ball to his balls if you know what I mean. It wasn’t pretty,”

Michael winced at that, and Ashton laughed. “He’s fine now, don’t worry. You guys would definetly get along! He’s a freshman and I’m worried that he’s not making many friends. He just says that baseball is too time consuming to branch out but I think he’s making excuses,”

“He sounds like a great guy,” Michael said honestly, because if he was anything like Ashton he would be, and who wouldn’t like someone who makes sunflower seed art. “Maybe I’ll see him after the game on Friday?” 

“Yeah! I’ll tell him to look out for you. Here, Cal I’ve got to go, but thank you so much for your help so far,” Ashton turned his attention from Michael to the countless philosophy packets on Calum’s bed. “I’ll text you and we can meet up again some time next week?”

“Sounds good,” Calum confirmed.

“Ok well bye guys! It was nice to meet you Michael, if you have time come say hi after the game and I’ll introduce you to Luke!” Ashton said before leaving the room and closing the door after him.

Michael didn’t know who this _Luke_ was. He’d never heard of him, but from the little that Ashton had told about him, he figured they’d get along well.


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael is studying to become a Special Education teacher; Calum loves Aristotle; Ashton can't pass Political Philosophy for the life of him; and Luke is just trying to get to class on time.
> 
> or Lashton are both on their college baseball team, Malum are roommates, and Muke pine after one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys :) I hope you like this update I'm really happy with the way it turned out. let me know what you think!!!

**MICHAEL**

 

Michael felt like a loser waiting outside the gates to the baseball stadium. He had misread the time on the email his Professor sent him and turned up to the gates 45 minutes before he was supposed to. He tried to show off his school spirit but he only owned two Vanderbilt apparel items and one of them had a barbeque sauce stain on it so he was left with an old gold and black baseball cap. 

Calum offered to come and ease Michael’s boredom, but Michael shrugged him off and told him that as long as the kids were there he’d be fine. But now he was regretting that as he had no one to talk to until everyone else showed up. He passed the time playing Candy Crush and texting his mom about his week like always. 

One of the kids, Annie, spotted Michael when he was texting her and shouted his name excitedly. Michael looked up and smiled immediately, shoving his phone into the back of his jeans and opening his arms for her. She ran into them and he picked her up lightly and spun her around. 

“Annie Banani!” he exclaimed. “How’ve you been sweetheart?” Her response was muffled as she spoke into Michael’s blue and white button up, but the way she was smiling up at him reassured the college student that she had been good. 

The rest of the group had now reached them and Annie unwrapped her arms from Michael, but still clutched onto his hand. Michael gently squeezed her hand to let her know he was still there before offering high fives and side hugs to everyone (except his professor - he just shook her hand). Michael passed out tickets to the seven kids that were there and helped them all through the turnstiles, chuckling when Annie immediately regrabbed his hand after walking into the stadium. 

They got to their seats right before the game started and Michael helped distribute everyone’s dinner, being sure not to mix up Johnny’s and Jason’s. The last thing he needed was for one of these kids to have an allergic reaction. Michael was finally able to relax when the first pitch was underway. Everyone had their dinners and were talking amongst themselves, and for the first time he was grateful to be at a baseball game. Here he was bound to be bored for three hours, but at least he didn’t have to spend three hours worrying about losing one of the kids. 

He checked his phone one last time for a text back from his mom before turning it off and sliding it into his back pocket. He looked around at the guys in his school colors on the field, trying to understand how they played this sport without dying of boredom every game. He was looking around the diamond, trying to find a familiar face when- Holy shit.

Michael didn’t even realized his water bottle was dripping onto him -  how could he when the most beautiful person he had ever seen in his life was right in front of him? “Shit,” he muttered, tilting his water back to the upright position and using his hands to try to wipe away the water. When he realized his attempts to hide the wet stain were useless he turned his attention back to the gorgeous boy.

His blonde hair poked out of his black and gold baseball cap and curled at the base of his neck. His uniform hung off his body comfortably, but Michael was more impressed with the way his pants stretched around his ass. And goddammit he had the cutest nose Michael had ever seen. Michael knew he was a goner though, when the boy looked into the stands and Michael met his bright blue eyes.    
  


 

**LUKE**

 

Luke could feel someone’s eyes on him from the second he stepped out on the field. It was their home opener and probably one of the only times they would have a sell out the entire season, so he knew he’d have to be on his a-game. But the feeling persisted and eventually Luke forced himself to look into the stands. 

_ Jesus Christ, who is that? _ Luke thought. Sitting in the third row was by far the hottest guy Luke had ever seen. Luke nearly cried of happiness when he saw a worn in Vanderbilt hat on the guy’s head. The third baseman was shaken out of this thoughts when he heard a “two down play’s to first” from the second baseman.

_ Ok, play now and find hot boy later, _ Luke told himself before slapping his right hand to the inside of his glove and getting into his ready position. He didn’t have much time to think because only a second after the pitcher had released the ball from his hand, it was hit to Luke’s right. Luke dove instinctively and as soon as he felt the ball hit the back of his glove he leapt up and threw a bullet to Ashton, who was the first baseman.

The throw beat the runner by a few steps and the loud cheers from the crowd gave Luke the confidence he needed to turn back to the hot guy in the stands and give him a wink. He couldn’t hold in his grin when he saw the guy’s surprised face heat up. When Luke made it back to the dugout he still had a wide smile on his face as his teammates all congratulated him. Ashton gave him a weird look when he saw how happy Luke was, but shrugged it off in the excitement of the home opener. He slapped the back of Luke’s pants and shoved him lightly through the dugout.

Luke made eye contact with the boy between each inning and sometimes even between pitches in his at bats. That was probably not the best idea because if he struck out then he’d look like an idiot, but fortunately the other team’s pitcher had a tendency to leave the ball out over the plate and by the fourth inning, Luke already had two hits. What Luke didn’t expect was for the hot boy to return the favor after he hit a clean RBI double. Luke slid into second base and popped up quickly, looking at the boy in the stands to see him give Luke a quick wink. He was glad that he had just run 180 feet to second base, as no one would be able to distinguish the blush on his face from exhaustion. 

Ashton, however, was quick to catch onto the extra pep in Luke’s step from the get-go, but waited until the end of the six inning the say anything. Ashton had been the last to bat in the previous inning and Luke’s turn wasn’t for awhile, so the older boy found it a good time to see what was going on.

Luke was watching the game from the upper bench and was mindlessly tossing a baseball up and down when Ashton came and sat next to him, snatching the ball mid air.

“Hey mate,” Ashton started, “What’s got you so smiley out there?”

Luke’s face and neck turned as red as the stitches on the baseball as he ducked his head away from his best friend. “Nothing,” he muttered.

“Oh c’mon Luke I’m not an idiot. Is it a guy?” Luke had told Ashton that he was into guys the day that he met them. He didn’t want a repeat of high school when he had befriended what seemed like all of the homophobic boys in his school and as soon as they found out, his social life was all over. Senior year was not a year the blonde wanted to relive. The older boy hadn’t missed a beat though, and he looked at Luke like he was crazy thinking that Ashton would care about his sexuality. “Who is it?” Ashton asked excitedly when he realized why Luke was so happy.

“Maybe,” Luke mumbled, and Ashton rolled his eyes when Luke avoided his second question. “Who is it?” he repeated.

Luke, as secretive as he could, pointed towards the third base stands at the bleached blonde who was sitting in the middle of a bunch of kids. Ashton squinted, and his eyes widened when he recognized who Luke was pointing to. 

“No fucking way,” he deadpanned. 

“What?” Luke asked nervously. “Is he mean? He’s just really cute and he’s been looking at me, but if he’s…” 

Ashton’s loud laugh broke Luke out of his rambling. “You know how I was talking to you about meeting someone after the game?” Luke nodded, not putting the two pieces together. “That’s the guy I was talking about,”

“You’re joking,” Luke said, putting his head in his hands. “I winked at him earlier after the play in the first, there’s no way I can look at him in the eye now,” 

Ashton giggled and pat Luke’s leg before standing up. “Who would’ve known you had it in you Hemmings, I’m impressed. He’s obviously into you too. When I met him earlier he was barking about how boring baseball was and how he was only coming for a school assignment, but now it looks like his assignment is over and he’s still sticking around,” 

Luke was nearly ashamed at how fast he whipped his head around to the third base stands where, true to Ashton’s word, hot guy - Michael, was now sitting by himself in the middle of the row watching the game. 

“What do I do?” Luke asked quietly, he was completely inexperienced when it came to guys, and not to mention awkward when it came to everyone.

“Well, right now you’re gonna finish this game and then you’ll come with me to meet him after the game, you’ll ask him out and bam -  you’ve got yourself a boyfriend,” Ashton clapped his hands together and tossed Luke his fielding glove from the other side of the bench. “Now, let’s go. We’ve still gotta get nine more outs,”    
  


 

**MICHAEL**

 

Honestly, who did the third baseman think he was. Not only did he  _ wink  _ at Michael after he made a great play, but he had been giving him flirty looks the  _ entire game.  _ He didn’t stop there either, he was pushing his butt out more when he played and was sure to slightly flex his arm muscles when he knew Michael was looking. 

The kids had left a long time ago with their early bedtimes and all, but Michael had promised to meet up with Ashton after the game so he didn’t go with them. It’s not like he would’ve left anyway - he wouldn’t miss out on an opportunity to stare some more at the blonde. 

Eventually, the last out was recorded and the game was over. His school won, but Michael was more interested in finding out more about the third baseman. He walked slowly in between the large crowd outside the stadium and stood by the players entrance gate where he told Ashton he’d meet him. 

He knew it would be a while before Ashton came out, so he took out his phone. He was in the middle of typing out a text to Calum when he heard someone’s throat clear in front of him. His phone fumbled in his hands and he dropped it in surprise when he looked up into the same blue eyes that had been flirting with him all night.

“Shit,” he muttered, picking his phone up from the concrete and letting out an audible sigh in relief when he saw that there were no cracks in the screen. 

“I’m so sorry!” the blonde exclaimed apologetically. “I didn’t mean to surprise you. Is your phone ok? If not, I promise I’ll pay for it to be fixed!” 

Ashton put a hand on the blonde’s shoulder and laughed his infamous laugh. “Luke, mate relax. Mike is your phone good?” Michael nodded. “Ok, well I wanted to introduce you too, Michael, this is Luke and Luke, Michael,” he said, gesturing to the respective boys. 

“Sunflower seed boy?” Michael asked without thinking. Luke was quick to turn to Ashton and slap his arm. 

“You told him?!” He hissed, blushing madly. 

“It’s ok!” Michael stepped in. “I think it’s really cute!”

Luke’s mouth opened a little as he looked back at Michael. He watched Michael’s eyes fill with realization of what he said, but before he could tell him that he thought  _ he  _ was cute, Ashton jumped in.

“Well. I gotta go shower, but I’ll let you guys get to know each other. Luke, I’ll see you back at the dorms ok?”

Luke muttered back a response and Ashton waved goodbye to Michael before he (finally) left the two alone.

“Uh…” Luke stuttered out. “Thanks for coming to the game,”

Luke could see Michael’s smirk even in the dim lighting from the stadium. “You’re a lot more confident on the field aren’t you?”

“Maybe just a little,” Luke squeaked out, and Michael’s smile widened because  _ how cute was this boy! _

“Do you, uh, wanna get dinner?” Luke asked. He knew it was a long shot, Michael was way out of his league, but the way the older boy was smiling at him made the ballplayer feel a bit more confident. 

“Luke, it’s 10 o’clock. I think all of the good restaurants will be closed by now, besides as good as you look in those baseball pants, you should probably shower and change,” Luke looked down at the grey concrete trying to hide his disappointment. Of course Michael wouldn’t want to go out with him, he was probably just giving out excuses to let the blonde down easier. “But,” Michael continued. “I know the cutest cafe just off campus that has the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. I’d love to take you to tomorrow for lunch if you want?”

“Yes,” Luke blurted out. “I’d really like that,” 

The two exchanged phone numbers and Michael told Luke he’d pick him up at his dorm at 12:30 the next day (Luke made a mental note to set five different alarm clocks so he’d wake up on time). Just before Michael left, he leaned in close to Luke and kissed his cheek, loving the way the blonde’s whole face flushed in response. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Michael promised, before turning around and walking back towards campus. And even if he tried, Luke wouldn’t be able to stop smiling. 


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael is studying to become a Special Education teacher; Calum loves Aristotle; Ashton can't pass Political Philosophy for the life of him; and Luke is just trying to get to class on time.
> 
> or Lashton are both on their college baseball team, Malum are roommates, and Muke pine after one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys! this is the final chapter of honey you're a grand slam. this may have been rushed, but im happy with how it turned out and i hope you guys like it too! kudos and comments are really appreciated
> 
> have a great day and thanks for reading :)

**LUKE**

 

Luke may have been a little bit early for his date with Michael. It was only 10:30 and Luke had showered, destroyed his closet trying to figure out what to wear, and perfected his hair - Michael wasn’t even going to pick him up for another two hours. 

He tried to go bother Ashton to hang out with him before Michael came, but the older boy was rushing off to the library mumbling something about being late for a tutoring session when Luke knocked on his dorm room. He didn’t really have any friends he wanted to hang out with, so he was all alone.

His backpack was on lying on the floor next to his bed, and Luke groaned before picking it up and slugging it over his shoulders. He had a big paper for his communications class due the following Thursday and he hadn’t even started. But with team practice this afternoon and a few games next week, he knew that if he didn’t start it now, he’d never get it done. He grabbed his keys and phone before heading out his dorm to the library - because god knows he’d get way too distracted in his dorm to work. 

Luke stopped by his favorite coffee shop on campus and picked up a latte before walking into the library next door. When he walked in, he was immediately hit with the air conditioning and cursed at himself for not thinking to bring a jacket. It was late March - just about when the weather was totally unpredictable. But Luke forgot that the librarians always kept the AC on; he had been thankful for that at the beginning of the school year when it was 90 degrees almost every day, but when it came to finals in January, Luke was more focused on trying to warm up his body than his chemistry notes. 

Luckily it wasn’t too bad today, and Luke gave a warm smile to the librarian at the front desk before walking upstairs to one of the long wooden tables that would have more than enough room for his laptop and notes. He was already halfway done with his coffee by the time he sat down and pulled out all of his things, but he put his cup a foot or two away from his computer just to be safe. The last thing he needed was to break  _ another  _ computer because he couldn’t control his lanky arms.

Plugging his headphones into his computer, he opened up Spotify and shuffled his favorite playlist, sighing happily when he heard the first notes from Dani California. He drowned the rest of his latte before opening up a word document and typing away.   
  
  


**MICHAEL**

 

Michael woke up ten minutes before he was supposed to pick Luke up. He cursed when he looked at his clock and saw that it was 12:18 and jumped out of bed, frantically throwing on the black button up he had laid out yesterday. He pulled off his pajama pants and slipped into a pair of blue skinny jeans, groaning when he lost his balance and fell to the tiled floor. He had never been more fortunate for the sink in his dorm room until now when he was able to brush his teeth and hair without having to run down the hallway to the communal bathroom. 

It was 12:23 when Michael stepped out of his dorm with his wallet and keys. Thankfully, he would have enough time to get to Luke’s dorm without having to run across campus, because he didn’t think he was in shape for that. But by the time he reached the freshman’s building, he had nerves pooling in his stomach. He still couldn’t believe that Luke had agreed to go out with him, and he didn’t want to mess it up. 

Michael took a deep breath before knocking softly on the door with a brass A-13 on the side. He waited for a second, but the door didn’t open with the familiar blonde behind it. In fact, the door didn’t open at all. Michael’s heart fell as he frantically pulled his phone out of his back pocket to check the time he told Luke he’d pick him up. 

He furrowed his eyebrows, it was 12:28 and he told Luke he’d be here at 12:30, so where was he? He knocked twice once more, and when he got no response he walked outside the dorm and sat down on the concrete wall across from the building. 

Was it too much to call Luke? He didn’t want to bother the boy, but he was confused. Was Luke standing him up? _ No,  _ Michael thought.  _ Luke was too nice for that, he wouldn’t do that.  _ Michael decided to call him, there must be an explanation.

It only took two rings for Luke to pick up. “Michael?”

“Luke? Hey, uh where are you?” Michael asked. He could feel his palms sweating, did Luke forget?

“I’m at the library, why? Wait!” Luke sputtered out. “What time is it?” 

“12:35,” Michael started. “If you don’t wanna go out that’s fine…” His left hand suddenly becoming quite interesting as he tries to distract himself. 

“Fuck,” Luke interrupted. “No! I do, I promise I do! Shit, Michael I’m so sorry. I set like five alarms and I woke up super early and had so much time so I went to the library to work on a paper but I completely lost track of time. I’m such an idiot!”

Michael internally screamed; he wouldn’t have known what to do if Luke had stood him up. He’d probably cry, a lot. 

“Are you still at the dorms?” Luke’s voice came through the speakers. “I’ll meet you there in like two minutes tops! I’m coming right now!” 

Michael laughed softly, “It’s ok Luke, don’t worry about it,” He hung up the phone and smiled to himself. 

It wasn’t long until a familiar blonde was running down the graveled path towards Michael. By the time Luke was in front of the dorms, he was breathing heavily and leaned against the concrete wall, trying to steady his breathing. 

“I’m…I’m so sorry,” he breathed out, and Michael giggled. 

“Don’t worry about it,” he repeated. “Do you wanna put your stuff inside and then we can go?” 

Luke nodded and grabbed Michael’s hand, pulling him into the building. Luke’s room was on the first floor, and the younger boy was thankful he didn’t have to walk up any steps. At this point, he didn’t think he would’ve been able to. He unlocked and pushed the door to his room open, letting go of Michael’s hand (much to the older boy’s disappointment).

“How the hell did you get a single?” Michael asked.

“Perks of being an athlete I guess,” Luke shrugged. 

Michael scoffed. “Athlete? I’ve never seen anyone breathing more heavily than you after running for two minutes,” he teased. 

Luke put his hand over his chest and pulled a mock-offended face at Michael. “We haven’t even gone out yet and you’re already roasting me,”

“Speaking of that date, are you ready?” Michael asked, feeling bold enough to hold his hand out for Luke to take.

The blonde blushed and took his hand. “Yeah, just let me grab my wallet and keys..” Michael slapped Luke’s other hand from getting his wallet and pulled them out of the dorm.

“Sorry babe,” he said once he closed Luke’s door. “You’re not paying,” Luke’s face turned 1000 times redder as Michael led them out of the dorms and off campus.

It was a short walk, one that Michael had done plenty of times, and each word that came out of Luke’s mouth made the older boy fall even harder for him. Luke was in the middle of telling Michael about the time he had to babysit his high school coach’s 4 year-old daughter and he was pitching to her in their backyard and she hit him in the head, giving him a concussion and essentially benching him for the next three weeks when Michael nudged Luke’s shoulder and used his free hand to open the door to the deli.

“Order whatever you’d like,” Michael said, squeezing Luke’s hand. “My mom put more money in my bank account this morning so I’m stacked,” 

Luke laughed, letting go of Michael’s hand and stepping up to the counter, ordering himself a chicken caesar wrap.

“Make that two please,” Michael said to the cashier, before turning to Luke again, asking him if he wanted anything to drink. “Just a lemonade please,” 

Michael nodded and pulled two lemonades out of the refrigerator next to the counter, making sure the cashier know to ring those up too. Michael paid (and got one of the sandwiches free because of his frequent customer card, which Luke laughed at) and the two grabbed their sandwiches and sat down at one of the booths in the back of the deli. 

“What were you doing at the game last night? Ashton said something about an assignment?” Luke asked casually, unwrapping his sandwich. 

“I’m a Special Education major, and every other week I plan excursions for the kids with my professor and this week she suggested going to the baseball game,”

“No way!” Luke exclaimed,. “That is so cool! So do you get to hang out with kids every day?” 

“I wish,” Michael said. “A lot of it’s like training for situations instead of being in those situations, if you get what I mean? The kids go to different schools so I don’t get to see them as often as I want, but that just makes the time I have with them more special,”

Luke swallowed the last bite of half of his wrap before wiping his hand across his mouth. “Did you know you wanted to do that when you came here or did you get into it once you were here?”

“I’ve wanted to be a Special Education teacher since I was in middle school,” Michael explained. “My school didn’t have the best program and equipment for teaching students with disabilities, but there was always this one teacher that was super nice and supportive regardless and she seemed to make such a difference in their lives. I was a teacher assistant for her when I was in high school and I really connected with the kids. I learned pretty early on that that is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, so that’s why I came here,”

Michael looked back up at Luke who was looking up at him with wide eyes. “What?” Michael asked. “Is there something on my face?”

Luke coughed and shook his head. “No, you’re just… that’s just amazing really,” Michael blushed and took a quick sip of his lemonade. 

“I’m sure it’s nothing compared to you. I don’t know the first thing about baseball, but from what I saw last night,  _ you  _ were amazing!” Michael was glad to shift the attention to Luke, truthfully he could listen to the blonde talk for hours.

“I guess, I’ve been playing since I was five so I hope I don’t suck,” Luke joked. “My dad was my coach as a kid, and he kinda instilled in me this love of the game. I’m not sure if I wanna play professional, but I love playing at Vandy. I get my own single, an abbreviated schedule, and a discounted tuition, so there’s not much to complain about,” 

“And your ass looks great in those baseball pants,” Michael blurted out, throwing his hand over his mouth when he realized what he said. 

Luke on the other hand, threw his head back and laughed. “Fuck, Luke I’m sorry that was weird, I shouldn’t have said…” 

The blonde, still laughing, cut him off. “Don’t apologize. It’s nice to know all the squats I do are paying off,” he joked. 

Michael relaxed after that. It was so easy talking to Luke, and their conversation never seemed to stop. Somehow they transition from baseball to their respective families, to their summer plans. Luke told Michael about how he had to come back early for off-season workouts and Michael told Luke about the internship he was hoping to get.

Long after the two had finished their sandwiches, Luke’s phone went off, interrupting their conversation. 

“Shit,” Luke muttered when he saw his alarm going off. “I’ve got practice in half an hour,” 

Michael pulled out his phone, eyes widening when he saw it was almost 3:30. No way had they been here for three hours. He slid out of the booth and left a few dollar bills on the table for the waiter. 

“Here, I’ll walk you back to your dorm if you want?” Michael offered. 

“All my stuff is already at the gym,” Luke groaned, wanting to spend as much time with Michael as possible. 

“Well then i’ll walk you there,” Michael said, smiling when Luke nodded and smiled at him. 

“I’d like that,” 

The two walked out of the deli standing close enough to each other that their shoulders were touching, and eventually Luke connected their hands. They took their time walking back to campus, looking into cute stores and restaurants and continuing their easy conversations from the deli. Luke led the two of them down to the gym where the athletes worked out (Michael didn’t even know where the student gym was) five minutes before the practice was supposed to start. 

“Where is everyone?” Luke mumbled to himself, using his free hand to take his phone out of his pocket. He had kept his phone on silent during their date - no one was going to interrupt his time with Michael - which may not have been a great thing, because when he unlocked his phone, he had 38 unopened messages from the baseball team group chat. He skimmed through them, cheering internally when he realized his coach had cancelled practice for today. 

“Everything good Lu?” 

“Yeah! Coach just sent out an email late about cancelling practice today. Sorry, I just saw this,” he said, looking at Michael with a sheepish smile. 

“It’s no problem, do you wanna…” Michael started, but Luke cut him off.

“Do you wanna learn how to play?” Luke blurted out. When Michael looked at him with a confused smile, he explained. “It’s really easy, I promise! I mean then if you come to more games you could understand it better,”

“You think I’m gonna come to more games now?” Michael teased, but the two of them both knew that Michael would be sitting in the third base stands for every home game he possibly could.  

“Well, if you wanna see more of my ass in baseball pants you better come,” Luke said confidently and Michael laughed. 

“Of course, I’ll come to your games, and not just for your ass” Michael reassured with a wide smile. “Now lead the way, you gotta teach me how to hit a baseball,”

Luke flashed his student ID in front of the door and pushed it open, waiting for Michael to go in before he closed it behind himself. The gym was practically deserted, which wasn’t too surprising because it  _ was  _ a Saturday, and Luke walked Michael to the basement floor which was filled with batting cages and workout equipment. 

“Grab a helmet from the bin and wait over there,” Luke said, pointing to the end of one of the batting cages. “I’ll turn it on and then we can start,” 

“Isn’t this unsanitary?” Michael called from the helmet bin. He wasn’t too excited to put on a used helmet - he cared too much for his hair to get lice so easily. “Wait, how fast are these balls gonna be coming at me Luke? I’m not looking to die today,” 

“Well shit, there goes my plan,” Luke joked. “Fine, you don’t have to wear the helmet. Just stand off to the side so I can see if it’s lined up,” 

Two balls flew past Michael and he gave Luke a crazy look. “Do you really think I could hit those?” 

Luke put his hands up and turned the speed down, coming over to Michael when he was happy with the speed. He grabbed one of the bats and a pair of batting gloves from the rack and handed them to Michael. 

“Here, put these on. It’ll make everything a lot easier,” he explained. “Ok, so now what you’re gonna wanna do it bend your knees and get lean the bat on your right shoulder. And when the ball comes you’re just gonna swing,” 

“It cannot be that easy,” Michael deadpanned. “Luke I don’t even think I can hold this up,” he nodded his head towards the bat. 

Luke stifled a laugh and squeezed Michael’s shoulder reassuringly. “You’ll be fine. Just try it a few times and if you’re really that bad I’ll come help you,” 

Michael rolled his eyes at the blonde and lifted the bat onto his shoulder. He stood facing the batting cage and waited for the ball to come. When it was released from the pitching machine, Michael took a deep breath and swung as hard as he could. But instead of hearing the ball hit the aluminum bat (which would have been ideal), he heard it hit the padding on the wall behind him and a giggle from Luke. 

“Did you just bring me here to watch my make a fool of myself?” Michael asked, exasperated and slightly embarrassed he just humiliated himself in front of Luke. 

Luke stopped laughing immediately and gave Michael a pitiful smile. “Of course not,” he said. “One sec, stay there. I’ll come help you,” 

Luke stopped the pitching machine with the small remote he had in his left hand and stepped into the batting cage. He stood (directly) behind Michael and brought both of his hands to rest on top of Michaels. He went through the movements slowly with the older boy, explaining in more detail what he had to do exactly, but how could Michael even try to pay attention when Luke’s breath was hitting just below his earlobe and he could feel him everywhere. 

“You got that?” Luke asked, stepping away slightly and giving Michael a wide smile. 

“I don’t know,” Michael responded with a smirk, “Why don’t you help me for the next few pitches?” 

“Ok, ok,” Luke muttered, blushing a bit and wiping his hands on his pants. He clicked the start button on the remote in his hand and wrapped his arms back around Michael. When the ball came out of the machine, Luke squeezed Michael’s hands and prompted his body to swing through the ball. The ball made perfect with the bat and made the beautiful (to Luke at least) cracking sound. Michael dropped the bat in surprise and turned around to celebrate with Luke, but he didn’t realize they were so close and fell into his arms. 

“Now I know why you brought me here,” Michael said after the two had made no move to get out of the position that they were in. 

Luke couldn’t take it anymore. Michael’s face was only inches away from his and he couldn’t help but close the gap between their lips. Michael let out a squeak in surprise (that he would deny for the  _ rest _ of his life) before relaxing into it. He wrapped his arms around Luke’s waist and pulled him closer, lips moving in sync. It was a soft and innocent kiss, but it was enough to fill both of their stomach’s with butterflies. Michael was about to swipe his tongue across Luke’s lower lip when he felt a sting in the right thigh. 

He jumped away and hissed in pain, looking for what happened and groaning when he saw a baseball rolling away from him on the ground. 

“What happened?” Luke asked with a bewildered look on his face. “Are you okay?”

“One of those fucking balls just hit me in the leg,” Michael said, aggressively pointing to the pitcher machine. Luke looked at him for a few seconds before doubling over in laughter; Michael tried to stay angry but with the way Luke’s eyes scrunched up when he laughed, it was impossible not to smile. Plus, the situation was pretty hilarious. 

The two were too busy laughing that they didn’t notice another ball come out from the pitching machine, this one hitting Luke right in the middle of his stomach. 

“Turn it off!” Michael screamed, throwing the bat and batting gloves to the ground and running out of the batting cage. 

Luke smiled at the older boy’s antics and used the remote to turn off the remote. He picked up the bat and gloves Michael had thrown onto the ground and put them back on the shelf. Turning off the lights, he grabbed Michael’s hand and led the two of them upstairs and out of the gym. 

“Well, you hit one of the balls…” Luke said. 

“Yeah and one of them hit me,” Michael deadpanned, making the blonde giggle. He was pretty good at that.

The campus seemed more alive now than it did when the two first went out, and as Michael walked Luke back to his dorm he found himself pulling the blonde closer to him - not wanting to lose him, but also wanting to be as close as possible to him. When they reached Luke’s dorm, Michael kissed Luke’s blushing cheek and squeezed his hand once more before offering a quiet “I’ll text you?”

Luke nodded and smiled back at him. “I’ll respond,” 

“I’ll be looking forward to it,” Michael snorted before turning around and heading in the direction of his own dorm. He was almost at the end of the path when he heard a familiar voice call out his name. 

“Michael!” Luke called from the steps of his dorm, not caring in the slightest if people thought he was insane. Michael turned around and raised his eyebrows at the blonde. “My next game is on Tuesday, come watch me?” 

Michael’s mouth broke out into a wide smile, “Wouldn’t miss it for the world!” 

  
And boy did he mean that. 


End file.
